


Some things never change

by taurussieben



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternative Universe - SciFi, M/M, Mentions of War Crimes, POV Lance (Voltron), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21916141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taurussieben/pseuds/taurussieben
Summary: Some things never change, and some do. The war against the Galra had cost Lance dearly, so it’s only natural that he is against going looking for them, when a distress signal reaches the Atlas.At the end, he finds something unexpected.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 47





	Some things never change

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Sheith Secret Santa for [Hazelek](https://twitter.com/hazeleks). Who wanted at least not pure fluff. A request after my very own heart. I do hope you enjoy it and I could fill your request to some extend. I wish you happy holidays!
> 
> I’m deeply grateful to [@sciencebluefeelings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciencebluefeelings) for the very fast beta! Thank you so much. <3
> 
> All the others, please enjoy as well. It’s short and funny and Lance is Lance.

"No." The word was out of Lance's mouth before he could think better about it. Captain Shirogane studied him with narrowed eyes. The only other person on the bridge, Allura, stopped what she was doing and turned around.

"No?" Shiro repeated in a calm voice. Lance was sure he had fucked up, but not quite how, so he kept going.

"No." He confirmed, crossing his arms. 

"I thank you for your opinion, crewman. Allura set course."

Lance spluttered, ready to fight, but a gentle hand on his shoulder made him look over. Allura stood beside him, shaking her head slightly. She had an amused tilt to her lips, and Lance admitted defeat. Shiro was their Captain, even before he had been their leader. Lance and Allura, Pidge down in engineering, Hunk who had taken over the kitchen, and Romelle in med-bay, they had all followed Shiro to the end of the universe and back. They had fought a long and bloody war together. One that had cost them all dearly. But they had survived. Together. So why, Lance asked himself, was he so against the new course?

The distress signal had been normal, standard… and entirely Galran. When it pinged, Lance had studied it for a second, his fingers twitching to delete it, but Shiro had caught it and insisted that they check it out.

All kinds of scenarios played in Lance's mind. He was convinced it was a trap, a group of rouge Galra still making noise at the edge of the lost war. Lance shuddered. The memories of his time in one of the prison camps slowly crawled back into his consciousness. His rational mind knew that there were good Galra as well, people and splinter groups that had fought at the side of the Alliance. The most prominent one being the Blade of Marmora. More than anyone else, had they done the heavy lifting from inside the hostile Galra ranks. Their motto ‘Knowledge or Death’, a guarantee for early death.

Lance wanted to hate them all. Hate them with a deep passion. Hate them for Allura, whose people, the Alteans, had been nearly eradicated. Hate them for Shiro, who had fought gruesome death battles as a prisoner of war in one of their many arenas, who had lost an arm and nearly his mind. Hate them for Pidge and her brother Matt, who had almost lost each other, and saw the war too early. For Romelle, who had lost her entire family in the twisted experiments the Galra empress had cooked up. And hate them for Hunk, who lost many family members, when the Galra finally made it to Earth. 

Lance desperately wanted to hate, and he hated himself that he could not.

He nudged Allura on the shoulder. She looked up, her fingers already hovering over the controls of the battleship they affectionately called Atlas. Lance nodded at last and was rewarded with a beautiful smile. He would do anything for that smile. Allura patted him on the shoulder and left for her own post again at the comms. Resigned, Lance let himself fall back into the pilot seat and set course.

Shiro kept silent.

It was a short jump. "We got visuals," Lance announced.

"Show me." Shiro prompted, urgency on his voice. Lance furrowed his brows. There was something in it, an undertone he never heard before, something desperate, something… He had no real word for it. Instead, Lance concentrated on the task at hand and pressed the controls for the screen.

The ship appearing on it was a sleek one, all dark and matte, with the telltale lilac lights so typical for the Galra. The lights flickered, and as Lance magnified the screen, the three of them could see the gigantic hole in the hull. Smaller ships drifted around it, all dead and lifeless. A battle? An ambush that went wrong?

"We got no designation, no association. Only a model number. A death fighter class 2. Deadly and fast. They have been used by Emperor Zarkon's attack divisions." Allura's voice drifted over. Lance swallowed.

"Scans?" Shiro's voice was heavy.

"One lifeforce, barely there. Nothing else," Allura said calmly.

"Lance?"

"No other ships detectable."

"I see." For a moment, only the hum of the engines could be heard. "I will go in."

"Captain…" Lance tried, turning around in the seat, facing Shiro, but their Captain was shaking his head.

"Romelle," Shiro called in the comms instead.

"Aye, captain."

"Get the med-bay ready."

"Aye."

"At least keep the channel open," Allura chimed in. Changing Shiro's mind, when he had made it up, was a near impossible thing, so the only thing they could do was to roll with it. 

It earned them a slight smile. "Aye."

  
  


The rest of the endeavor was pretty anti-climatic. Allura and Lance listened to heavy breathing and the grating sound from metal on metal. There was no sudden proximity alert, no pirates that sprung up from a hiding place, nothing exploded or started a self-destruct timer. It was normal until Shiro let out an uncharacteristic curse.

"Captain?" Allura was on the line in an instant. 

"No, nothing. Just…" There was a pause and a sigh. "We got one injured incoming."

"You alright?" Allura clarified.

"Yes, it's not me."

Lance gritted his teeth. An injured Galra. Fun. Allura threw Lance a warning glance and contacted Romelle.

"They are coming, Lance, go and help."

Lance sighed and stood up.

On the way down to the airlock, Lance once again complemented what he should do. He did not want a Galra on his ship, but it was not his decision, and Shiro had made up his mind. A Mamoran, that he could accept, but also barely. The thought alone, of one of those on board, in space, where no one could hear scream gave Lance goosebumps. He sighed and buried his thoughts as deep as he could before he stepped out of the elevator. He crossed over to the airlock Shiro was using. The panel at the side indicated that the decompression was still running. Giving in to the temptation, Lance threw a look through the small window into the airlock and stopped dead. He swallowed, balling his hands to fists to hide the tremble in them.

Son of a—

The lock opened, and Shiro watched him with hooded eyes. "Not a word, Lance," was the first thing out of his mouth. The Galra was barely upright. Lance could not see the face through the dark helm. It took every ounce of self-control in Lance not to start a mutiny right then. Instead, he swallowed everything down once again and sidled up to the side Shiro was not already holding. If he kept that arm a bit too tight, well, nobody needed to know. 

The track to the med-bay was tense and silent. When they crossed the threshold, Romelle was at their side, barely acknowledging the person between them. They staggered over to the med-beds and laid their guest down. 

"Do you need help?" Shiro asked, but Romelle was shaking her head. She was already running scans after scans, her mind far away. Still, Shiro hovered. Lance furrowed his brows at that.

"Will he be a danger?" Romelle looked up at the question and over to Lance. She drew her brows together, thinking.

"He is out completely." She typed something. "But either way, I will activate the force field when I'm done." Lance nodded and turned to their Captain, who looked conflicted. Lance took his arm and hauled him out. Shiro did not protest. Outside Lance had finally had enough.

"The fucking inner circle, Shiro?" Lance stabbed a finger, their Captain's chest. "He is wearing the uniform of Zarkon's personal guard." The fighter should have clued them in. "They were, they are, the worst of the worst. Seriously? Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Enough," was all Shiro said before he turned and left Lance standing alone in the hallway.

What. The. Hell?

* * *

Pidge watched him. "Why are you here again?" Her fingers worked on their own, deftly twisting wires together and clipping them before the cables vanished into the small box she had in her lap. Lance crossed his arms, his mouth pressed into a thin line. 

"Because no one else seems to be concerned." She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting. "Pidge, it is the uniform of Zarkon's personal guard, his most inner circle. Sendak was one of them." Lance swallowed at the memory of Sendak, one of Zarkon's most cruel generals. Bringing him down near the end of the war had been gratifying. "They established the war camps and the fighting arenas. They killed thousands, just because they could." His fingers trembled, his voice shook at the last words. The memories of the prisoner camps yet again crawling back into his mind. Lance had suppressed most of it, deep down into one of the hundred boxes he kept locked away from the war. The healers and screws said it would take a long time until they healed. Lance doubted that they ever could. Pidge stopped what she was doing and looked at him with understanding in her eyes.

"It is not on us to judge," she said, slow and measured. She blinked, then for a moment she was lost in her own memories, of pain and fight and blood. "We do have trials for that kind of thing. We are not Galra." 

Lance looked away. Pidge was right, of course she was, and still, he could taste that vindictive feeling on his tongue, it was bittersweet.

When Lance returned to the bridge, he found their Captain already seated, looking older than Lance had ever seen him. Shiro was older than them, but he was still young, even if his white-grey hair suggested otherwise. Deep lines were carved into his face, and he had the air of someone distracted.

"Lance, set course to Antex."

Antex, the home base of the Marmorans. More Galra. Lance sighed. But it made sense. The prisoner needed to stand trial by the Alliance council. Still, only the Marmorans could provide the necessary security if word got out. Also, they were probably the only ones who could also identify the Galra for sure. Lance distantly remembered something about markings and ear forms. 

"Aye," Lance answered and made the adjustments. 

"Captain to med-bay, now!" Romelle's urgent voice cut through the bridge. Shiro was out of his seat and gone in seconds. Lance laid in the course and looked over to Allura. She nodded. Lance turned back and pressed a few controls to the side. The screen flickered on, showing the med-bay. The static of the force field was filtering over the other noises. They saw the Galra, yellow eyes flashing, sharp teeth in full display as he threw himself against the force field. Shiro must have been running, because he rushed through the door at light speed, nearly colliding with the energy matrix. He said something to Romelle, who shook her head. Their Captain turned back to the prisoner, holding up his hands trying to placate him, his mouth moved. But the Galra did not stop, throwing himself again and again against the fields. Every time he made contact, it sparked. Romelle walked over and showed Shiro something she had in her hand. Shiro nodded. The rest went down in seconds. The field vanished and the Galra lunged for Shiro, who caught him securely in his grip, and Romelle injected their guest. There was another attempt of the Galra trying to break free, but then the whole body went limp. Shiro hefted him up in his arms and carried him back to the med-bed. After he had laid the still body down, a shudder went through Shiro's whole body before he walked back, reactivating the force field.

Lance gnawed at his thumbnail, the feeling that something was not right growing. But he still could not put his finger on it. Allura killed the feed and returned to listening to the comms. A few minutes later, Shiro returned, looking defeated.

"Allura, put me through to Antex command, secure line."

"Shall I put it in your office?"

But Shiro shook his head, folding himself in his seat; instead, his gaze was far away.

They did not need to wait long. "Antex is answering."

The screen flickered on, once again. The face of second leader Krolia peered down at them. She looked grim and tired, but the corners of her mouth tried for a smile. "Atlas, this is Antex command, how can I be of assistance?"

"We are en route. It would be best if you rendezvous with us as soon as possible." Lance turned his head, blinking surprised. 

"You need an escort?" Krolia raised an eyebrow, but her fingers were already clicking away.

"No." There was a weary sigh. "We—I need help."

"Shiro, what is going on?" Krolia had stopped typing and was now looking at their Captain, her gaze intense.

"We found Yorak. It is not pretty."

Krolia blanched, as good as any Galra could blanch. It was in the slight widening of her eyes and how the lilac of her skin was suddenly a hue lighter. Her gaze flickered to Lance and to Allura, before settling on Shiro again. "I see." Typing again. "I'll get the ship ready. Krolia out."

The screen went black, and silence returned.

"I'm down in the med-bay. Call me if something is out of the ordinary."

The moment the door shut behind their Captain, Lance was in the database. He finally had a name, and he would use it. It took a while, the algorithm crawled through the data they had accumulated of the Galra and their hierarchies. A few times the search flaked out, because he was missing a security level or two, or the data was considered classified. Everything he could read, Lance loaded onto his pad to look at it later. He could feel Allura's concerned gaze on his back and dared her in his mind to say something, but she kept silent.

Later, deep in the night, he shifted through it. And with every tidbit he found, his anger rose: Inner circle, visits to the arenas, the death camps, the colonies, the experiment factories, always at the side of Zarkon, standing close to Sendak. Some referenced him as the right-hand-man or second-in-command, direct rival to Sendak. The reports were not pretty. The final straw was the one picture showing him at the same fighting arena Shiro had been kept, the time stamp lining up with his imprisonment there. Shiro had been a mess after, brainwashed, nearly losing his mind. Only with the help of the Marmorans, who had taken Shiro in, was he able to find himself again.

That bastard had been there. That fucking bastard. Seething, Lance stomped to the med-bay. As he rounded the corner, he stopped. Shiro and Pidge stood before the med-bay door, talking in hushed voices.

"Is it—" Lance could not hear the rest. But at Shiro's nod, Pidge covered her mouth with her hand, suppressing a gasp. Shiro hugged her.

Lance remembered that the Galra had taken Pidge's father and brother prisoner, it had taken the Alliance three years to rescue them. Yorak must be connected as well. Lance locked his jaw and balled his hands to fists. There will be justice, he told himself, there will be justice. He repeated the phrase over and over in his head until he was able to believe it.

Early in the morning, Krolia's ship, the Kosmo, pinged them. The second leader's ship was impressive. It was huge, dwarfing the Atlas, and sleek, and everything Lance ever wished to pilot. Not that the Atlas was not beautiful, but the flagship of the Marmoran fleet was on a whole other level. 

"They are hailing us," Allura said.

"Put them through," Shiro replied.

"Can I see him?" was the first thing Krolia said. But before their Captain could answer, the proximity alert blared to live.

"Lance!"

"Two incoming, Galra," Lance shouted back.

"Evade, red alert, ready the cannons, hail them." 

"No answer," Allura confirmed.

"If they shoot, shoot back," Shiro commanded.

"Aye." Allura and Lance echoed.

The battle was short but lucky. The attackers got a torpedo through the Atlas' shields, crashing the main power before the Kosmo was able to take them down. The emergency light flickered on on the bridge.

"System check," Shiro said, while walking over to Lance console to assess the status. "Pidge, report."

Pidge's voice was filled with static. "Main power is down. We got a few relay overloads. The power on the whole ship was done for a good minute before the auxiliary kicked in." She stopped. "Shit, that means—"

"Romelle, answer me?" Shiro was on it in an instant.

For a second, there was nothing, only the static filtering. Finally, a groan. "That hurt. He got out. He is…agitated. Shiro…"

"Okay, okay." Shiro exhaled. "Weapons on stun. Keep the doors sealed. Lance, you take the upper decks, I will search the lower ones. Allura, keep track of us and seal the areas we cleared."

"Aye."

The screen on the bridge flickered on. Krolia looked unruffled. When she saw them reading their weapons, she asked: "You need any help?"

Shiro smiled. "Be my guest." Before turning to Allura. "Open the airlock when they come knocking."

"Aye."

Shiro turned to Lance. "Let's go hunting."

* * *

Lance felt creeped out. The emergency light did nothing to ease that feeling. The more subdued yellow hue spoke of horrors to come; if this was a horror movie. Hunting a lone Galra, who had done atrocious things, probably did count as such. A skilled fighter without any mercy and superior strength was not something Lance ever wanted to face alone, least in flickering lights and half-darkness. 

At a sudden sound, Lance whirled around. He waited. But nothing moved, and the noise did not return. He exhaled and turned, staring right into yellow eyes. Lance swallowed, a scream lodging in his throat. The eyes narrowed, Yorak snarled and lunged for him. Lance was lucky enough to dodge and dance around the attacker while getting a few feet between them. Enough space to take aim. For a moment, Lance considered changing the stun to a more appropriate setting, but Yorak was on him again, and Lance did not have the time to take his eyes away. The first stun struck the Galra at the shoulder. Yorak barely flinched and charged anew with a snarl. An extended claw caught Lance at the shoulder, ripping his uniform. The pain made Lance flinch, he kept his arms up and shot Yorak right into the chest.

Yorak stopped, shaking his head as if he wanted to shake something off. Lance kept his aim up. The adrenaline pumping through his veins, making it challenging to keep the gun steady. But he wasn't the best shooter in the Garrison fleet for nothing. 

Yorak shook his head once, twice, before first his knee went down, then the rest of the body. Yellow eyes slowly blinked up at him. Lance kept his guard up.

"Got him." He broadcasted via the comms.

There was a short pause. "Is he hurt?" Their Captain asked.

"Stunned, but I don't know how long it will be effective." Those eyes kept blinking up at him.

"How many stuns did it take?" Krolia asked.

"Two."

Someone cursed on the line, Lance was not sure who.

"Do not, under any circumstance, stun him again." Shiro's voice was breathless.

"But—"

"Lance!" The tone was sharp.

"Aye." He reluctantly acknowledged.

"I'm on my way," Shiro said before the channel went silent.

Lance blinked. Yorak eyes were tracking his every movement. Suddenly his arm moved. Lance cursed, retaking aim. It would be so easy, just pressing the button, just do it. No one would know. But before he could make up his mind, steps thundered behind him, and Shiro was at his side, before going down next to Yorak, restraining him. The Galra tried to fight it, but his movements were still sluggish.

"Everything will be alright," Shiro mumbled, before hosting Yorak up in his arms. Lance blinked at the picture, his weapon still trained on the Galra.

"Lance," Shiro said, almost pleading.

"What the fuck is going on?" Anger cursed through him. The way Shiro held him, cradling him close like… like a… "What the total and utter fuck is GOING ON?"

"Lance." A new voice behind him, he turned, and Pidge stunned him.

Fuck, that hurt.

* * *

Awareness was slowly creeping back. Lance blinked his eyes open. He studied the overhead lights, which looked so different from the ones he had in his rooms. He blinked again before the memories slowly returned. That little gremlin Pidge had stunned him. Lance groaned, a headache gradually forming between his eyes. Why had she done that?

He sat up with careful movements. Everything just hurt. Lance scrubbed at his face before he looked through the med-bay, slowly becoming aware that he was not the only one. But it was not the Galra, it was…

"Mullet?" Lance asked with surprise. The question earned him a raised eyebrow. It was Kogane, sitting cross-legged on the med-bed next to his. The cadet that had been booted out of the Garrison Academy some odd years ago. Lance would recognize that hairstyle anywhere. Kogane did not look much different from then, a bit bigger, more muscular, a scar prominent on his right cheek. An air of exhaustion around him, the skin a bit pale. Where had he come from? "What are you doing here?"

A spark of amusement flickered in Kogane's eyes. He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, the door to the med-bay opened, and their Captain walked in, followed by Krolia. Shiro beamed at them both. No, correction, he grinned at Kogane.

"Ah, Lance, you are finally awake," Shiro said with a wry note.

"Why the fuck did that gremlin stun me?"

"Lance, I can hear you," came Pidge's bodiless voice through the comms.

"Why the heck are you listening in," bristled Lance.

"Oh, I did not want to miss this," Pidge answered gleefully.

"What—"

"Children," Shiro interjected, Krolia chuckled. She had sat down next to Kogane, one of her hands on his leg. "Well, as we are all here, somehow, let me introduce to you: Keith Yorak Kogane." _Yorak?_

"But—"

"The half-galra side of my son got a bit wild. The survival stress got him to suppress his human side, and he went feral." Krolia smiled. _Half-galra? Son?_

"Where was I?" Shiro said. "Oh, right." _There is more?_ "May I introduce, Keith Yorak Kogane, General of the Special Marmoran Black Ops Unit, the Crossed Blades, and my fiance."

Lance decided it was an excellent moment to faint.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you, if you enjoyed it. Find me also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/sparklefly2).


End file.
